Soooooo, another engineer's wet dream from Google. Is Google Wave fully integrated into it? If not, they should since it seems that they're going for the consumer who craves complexity. They might actually lure Windows Media Center owners into the fold. Woohoo!
Internet based TV seems to be in turmoil at the moment. Anyone else noticed Hulu is blocking Boxee for example? They seem to be unable to provide complete shows, many vanishing in days and whole seasons missing.
For what it's worth here is my input on what I prefer. I like most Apple approaches but on this I like an ad based system for regular TV shows the way Boxee and Hulu do it. For movies I have no problem with the Apple way, and will rent to pay for newer stuff commercial free. However, I'll take a few ads for free older movies.
I am sure there is a market for paid, ad free regular TV but I just don't value TV shows that highly. I realize I am paying twice over on FiOS now, I pay a subscription and have to put up with ads. So I'd see free access on the net when I wish with ads as progress.
So to summarize;
TV. I like free content with a few ads as Hulu do it only better ... i.e. complete seasons and no vanishing shows. I don't mind if they are running a week behind releases of latest episodes.
I like the same as above for older movies.
I like paid for rent, ad free, recent movies.
Make this possible on my ATV with the ability to stream to any device I own as well as HDMI and I am a happy camper.
I know the content providers are the hold up on much of this as they want to be the ones making the $s not Apple or who ever but they need a front man and Apple is their best bet IMHO.
Considering thst it comes with 6 eneloop batteries at that price, that's actually a deceptively good product at an excellent price point you link to there. I've done my research so I know. Apple's products are like a brainy supermodel. A casual observer can make a lot of wrong assumptions about what's beyond the skin.
People who bought sony's version of this called Cycle Energy at twice the cost & less the number will surely know.
To be an Apple killer doesn't Apples product first have to be a success!
The only way any of these have a change of succeeding is if they actually start to play your regular tv content, until then it's hopeless. Especially when you consider people making traditional set top box's are adding things like iPlayer and cost less than an Apple TV.
Hey, is anyone going to bitch out Josh Ong for being so obviously one-sided in his reviews for Google TV? I mean he is being too pro-Apple in presenting these poor reviews of GTV, no?
Have you seen the reviews of every apple/google product on Yahoo? Someone from google must be their spouse. The reviews are horribly one sided and seem to be misinformed or only know half of apple's side when they write the reviews.
So someone needs to be reviewing on Apple's behalf...
Looks to me Google is taking over where MS left off. Fractured, unintuitive, crappy experience. No thanks...I'll wait for Apple's take on things...
For example even w/o "cut, copy and paste" I found the first iPhone to be a fantastic improvement compared to the phones I had used before. And now the iPhone 4 is a dream.
Same with AppleTV...I still maintain the photo display with music behind on a 50" flat screen is worth the price of admission for AppleTV...we view more photos this way than any other way before.
Albums, shoe boxes full of photos, hardly ever on a computer! My GF has a closet full of big, clunky, dusty, ugly photo albums she never looks at...all my photos are in my computer, the cloud and on an ext. HD and are viewed 2-4 times a week by her family and friends. (I'm not allowed to have any friends, especially if they have a vagina!)
I like the Logitech Revue better. I just switched the user agent and now I can watch all the programming except ABC and Hulu. Also with the Sony TV you have to use that big ugly remote. With the Revue you have 4 options.
- Included Keyboard
- Mini Controller
- Mobile device (iOS/Android)
- Any Harmony Remote
yes, the people that think apple tv is wonderful just don't get it. google tv is a step in the right direction but ATV is just a waste of 99 dollars.
Looks to me Google is taking over where MS left off. Fractured, unintuitive, crappy experience. No thanks...I'll wait for Apple's take on things...
For example even w/o "cut, copy and paste" I found the first iPhone to be a fantastic improvement compared to the phones I had used before. And now the iPhone 4 is a dream.
Same with AppleTV...I still maintain the photo display with music behind on a 50" flat screen is worth the price of admission for AppleTV...we view more photos this way than any other way before.
Albums, shoe boxes full of photos, hardly ever on a computer! My GF has a closet full of big, clunky, dusty, ugly photo albums she never looks at...all my photos are in my computer, the cloud and on an ext. HD and are viewed 2-4 times a week by her family and friends. (I'm not allowed to have any friends, especially if they have a vagina!)
...favorably to the Roku XDS. I own both, and the Roku has the most content (and is adding content the fastest), the best "make a channel" kit (and it's open source), and it has by *far* the best hardware, leaving the AppleTV in the dust. Even beyond the far superior hardware connectivity, it does things like support 1080p and 540p, not just 720p, and it can properly deal with HDMI to DVI. From composite to component through the entire range of progressive scan modes, analog and digital (Toslink) audio... it's clearly Roku, baby. Apple pulled a total fail this time.
When there's a competitive Google/android hardware offering at $99, I'll be very interested to take a look. Until then, they're not even in the running.
Roku xds won out over apple tv for me now.....but am awaiting my Logitech Revue which will banish the roku to some forgotten display in another room ha.
I disagree about AppleTV. I think it's a very useful device, so long as you're not counting on it to replace your cable service.
I personally think it's a great way of getting my music into my living room through my theater speakers when I have people over without having to bring my macbook into the room and hook it up (and laptop speakers are never worth a damn, anyway). I bought a lower-end BluRay player a few months back that doesn't have Netflix Streaming, so I'm also looking forward being able to watch Netflix on demand on my tv as well.
I would have never paid the $229 or whatever the old Apple TV cost, but this new one at $99 is at a good price that makes it seem worthwhile.
To be an Apple killer doesn't Apples product first have to be a success!
The only way any of these have a change of succeeding is if they actually start to play your regular tv content, until then it's hopeless. Especially when you consider people making traditional set top box's are adding things like iPlayer and cost less than an Apple TV.
Hopeless???
I think you're being a little premature with your pronouncement.
250,000 units isn't quite hopeless. Wait until the next quarter (at least). Then we can decide if it's hopeless.
(there are a lot of companies (like almost all) that would love to sell 250,000 units of anything.)
given it's limited functionality, even at $99, it begs the question, "why do I need this?" It's the only Apple product that is, well, in my opinion, how should I say this...wholly unnecessary? Wasteful? Laughable? Utterly forgettable?
A little harsh and self centered, no? If you have no need for a workstation with expansion slots and the ability to hold four hard drives, you could say the same thing about the Mac Pro
I use my ATV daily. I watch video podcasts, listen to music and enjoy my photos all via the ATV. And don't forget Netflix, which really does look noticably better than it does on my Tivo, Xbox 360 or PS3. At $100 it's a bargain for all of that. If you scatter them throughout your house you get whole house music for a fraction of what a sonos or other similar system would cost you. I'm always amused at Leo Laporte ragging on Apple for price, yet waxing poetic about all the sonos devices he has
Quote:
Everyone keeps talking Airplay. I give it a year before it's forgotten. It's simply an inefficient method for viewing media on a TV.
I'll take that bet.
Quote:
iPod and iPhone users will be the first to forget it when it drains their batteries faster than ever. iPad users will get over the novelty soon after despite suffering less battery woes.
While I don't think I will watch a two-hour film with Airplay off an iOS device, Airplay will be huge with mobile devices because of it's dynamic and instantaneous nature. The first time a friend comes over to my house and is able to throw content from their iPhone or other iOS device on my TV in a matter of seconds, I guarantee they will be getting a $99 ATV of their own. At $100 it's an impulse buy for most, and everyone loves seeing their content, especially personal photos and videos on their TV. In a few years every TV will have AirPlay and no ATV required. I think this is Apples longer goal. I think they would much rather eliminate the need for a set top box or smarts at the TV and instead leverage the computing devices people already own. Makes more sense to me than media center PCs or Google TV. Remember, AirPlay will work with Windows and Macs too. I will watch a movie via AirPlay if its on my Mac. Or I'll just watch it via Netfix like i do now. How can Google TV beat me sharing my MacBook Pro screen on my TV via AirPlay? It can't. It's a solution for a problem that won't exist once AirPlay becomes more prevalent.
Finally, if Apple follows though on their promise to open up Airplay, look for every consumer point and shoot camera to start adding Airplay. Apple has enough momentum with the iOS to break down resistance due to their shear inertia.
Airplay also solves the "what do you use as an interface for the TV" by taking the TV out of the equation. The TV is now an external monitor instead of another computing device - it's brilliantly simple and far more elegant than trying to connect some new box to a TV and it sells more iOS devices
Quote:
I can't wait for the next step in home media consumption to become a bit more concrete, but going off of the latest offerings, it's still a long ways off. It'll be tinkerers only until someone comes along and puts out a truly revolutionary product. No one has come even remotely close to doing so yet.
Our stagnation is a direct reflection of the dual stranglehold of the media companies and the cable companies. In Europe they have pure IP TV "cable systems". It will come here eventually, but it isn't going to happen any time soon \
In the mean time, all they are managing to do is to encourage me to look at how much time I waste watching inane programing on TV and instead encouraging me to do other things instead
As of now, folks watch TV with an iPad on thier laps for these sorts of things.
Especially with cheap devices like the iPad, why would I want to clutter up my TV display with PIP for search?
I never got PIP when it started as a fad in the 80's, and I really don't get it today. I would much rather leave the content of what I am watching front and center, and do supplemental activities like search on a secondary device. Only google would have the hubris to emphasize search over the content you are watching
Can you surf through all that? Or do you need to scroll and scroll and scroll through lists of text?
Well, I have this thing called a computer where I process and analyze large amounts of information. Once I identify and either subscribe or bookmark what I am interested in, I consume it with my Apple TV.
Pretty simple and very effective. And if I want something spontaneous and ad-hoc, I can search for it. Companies other than Google can search too
This is just how Google does things.... They cobble a bunch of stuff together. Barly get it to work and release it as a product. After several revisions, it starts to be stable and intutive. Then they come out with an update that add a couple of cool new features, but breaks a bunch of stuff that that was working to start with....
Google's entire foray into tech beyond search, has been "chaotic, complicated" in general. So no surprise here. Google aint Apple, folks.
Wait. Are you saying that Apple's entire foray into search has been chaotic and complicated? I'm pretty certain that they are currently working on it, and we'll see it get better in future releases.
Comments
For what it's worth here is my input on what I prefer. I like most Apple approaches but on this I like an ad based system for regular TV shows the way Boxee and Hulu do it. For movies I have no problem with the Apple way, and will rent to pay for newer stuff commercial free. However, I'll take a few ads for free older movies.
I am sure there is a market for paid, ad free regular TV but I just don't value TV shows that highly. I realize I am paying twice over on FiOS now, I pay a subscription and have to put up with ads. So I'd see free access on the net when I wish with ads as progress.
So to summarize;
TV. I like free content with a few ads as Hulu do it only better ... i.e. complete seasons and no vanishing shows. I don't mind if they are running a week behind releases of latest episodes.
I like the same as above for older movies.
I like paid for rent, ad free, recent movies.
Make this possible on my ATV with the ability to stream to any device I own as well as HDMI and I am a happy camper.
I know the content providers are the hold up on much of this as they want to be the ones making the $s not Apple or who ever but they need a front man and Apple is their best bet IMHO.
Just my 2 cents.
Considering thst it comes with 6 eneloop batteries at that price, that's actually a deceptively good product at an excellent price point you link to there. I've done my research so I know. Apple's products are like a brainy supermodel. A casual observer can make a lot of wrong assumptions about what's beyond the skin.
People who bought sony's version of this called Cycle Energy at twice the cost & less the number will surely know.
Another Apple killer bites the dust!
To be an Apple killer doesn't Apples product first have to be a success!
The only way any of these have a change of succeeding is if they actually start to play your regular tv content, until then it's hopeless. Especially when you consider people making traditional set top box's are adding things like iPlayer and cost less than an Apple TV.
Hulu app, VLC app, Sports apps, News apps... FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS apps... it would kill the competition.
as long as it gets the support.
Hey, is anyone going to bitch out Josh Ong for being so obviously one-sided in his reviews for Google TV? I mean he is being too pro-Apple in presenting these poor reviews of GTV, no?
Have you seen the reviews of every apple/google product on Yahoo? Someone from google must be their spouse. The reviews are horribly one sided and seem to be misinformed or only know half of apple's side when they write the reviews.
So someone needs to be reviewing on Apple's behalf...
For example even w/o "cut, copy and paste" I found the first iPhone to be a fantastic improvement compared to the phones I had used before. And now the iPhone 4 is a dream.
Same with AppleTV...I still maintain the photo display with music behind on a 50" flat screen is worth the price of admission for AppleTV...we view more photos this way than any other way before.
Albums, shoe boxes full of photos, hardly ever on a computer! My GF has a closet full of big, clunky, dusty, ugly photo albums she never looks at...all my photos are in my computer, the cloud and on an ext. HD and are viewed 2-4 times a week by her family and friends. (I'm not allowed to have any friends, especially if they have a vagina!)
Best!
I like the Logitech Revue better. I just switched the user agent and now I can watch all the programming except ABC and Hulu. Also with the Sony TV you have to use that big ugly remote. With the Revue you have 4 options.
- Included Keyboard
- Mini Controller
- Mobile device (iOS/Android)
- Any Harmony Remote
yes, the people that think apple tv is wonderful just don't get it. google tv is a step in the right direction but ATV is just a waste of 99 dollars.
Looks to me Google is taking over where MS left off. Fractured, unintuitive, crappy experience. No thanks...I'll wait for Apple's take on things...
For example even w/o "cut, copy and paste" I found the first iPhone to be a fantastic improvement compared to the phones I had used before. And now the iPhone 4 is a dream.
Same with AppleTV...I still maintain the photo display with music behind on a 50" flat screen is worth the price of admission for AppleTV...we view more photos this way than any other way before.
Albums, shoe boxes full of photos, hardly ever on a computer! My GF has a closet full of big, clunky, dusty, ugly photo albums she never looks at...all my photos are in my computer, the cloud and on an ext. HD and are viewed 2-4 times a week by her family and friends. (I'm not allowed to have any friends, especially if they have a vagina!)
Best!
You are not with my ex are you?
...favorably to the Roku XDS. I own both, and the Roku has the most content (and is adding content the fastest), the best "make a channel" kit (and it's open source), and it has by *far* the best hardware, leaving the AppleTV in the dust. Even beyond the far superior hardware connectivity, it does things like support 1080p and 540p, not just 720p, and it can properly deal with HDMI to DVI. From composite to component through the entire range of progressive scan modes, analog and digital (Toslink) audio... it's clearly Roku, baby. Apple pulled a total fail this time.
When there's a competitive Google/android hardware offering at $99, I'll be very interested to take a look. Until then, they're not even in the running.
Roku xds won out over apple tv for me now.....but am awaiting my Logitech Revue which will banish the roku to some forgotten display in another room ha.
I personally think it's a great way of getting my music into my living room through my theater speakers when I have people over without having to bring my macbook into the room and hook it up (and laptop speakers are never worth a damn, anyway). I bought a lower-end BluRay player a few months back that doesn't have Netflix Streaming, so I'm also looking forward being able to watch Netflix on demand on my tv as well.
I would have never paid the $229 or whatever the old Apple TV cost, but this new one at $99 is at a good price that makes it seem worthwhile.
To be an Apple killer doesn't Apples product first have to be a success!
The only way any of these have a change of succeeding is if they actually start to play your regular tv content, until then it's hopeless. Especially when you consider people making traditional set top box's are adding things like iPlayer and cost less than an Apple TV.
Hopeless???
I think you're being a little premature with your pronouncement.
250,000 units isn't quite hopeless. Wait until the next quarter (at least). Then we can decide if it's hopeless.
(there are a lot of companies (like almost all) that would love to sell 250,000 units of anything.)
given it's limited functionality, even at $99, it begs the question, "why do I need this?" It's the only Apple product that is, well, in my opinion, how should I say this...wholly unnecessary? Wasteful? Laughable? Utterly forgettable?
A little harsh and self centered, no? If you have no need for a workstation with expansion slots and the ability to hold four hard drives, you could say the same thing about the Mac Pro
I use my ATV daily. I watch video podcasts, listen to music and enjoy my photos all via the ATV. And don't forget Netflix, which really does look noticably better than it does on my Tivo, Xbox 360 or PS3. At $100 it's a bargain for all of that. If you scatter them throughout your house you get whole house music for a fraction of what a sonos or other similar system would cost you. I'm always amused at Leo Laporte ragging on Apple for price, yet waxing poetic about all the sonos devices he has
Everyone keeps talking Airplay. I give it a year before it's forgotten. It's simply an inefficient method for viewing media on a TV.
I'll take that bet.
iPod and iPhone users will be the first to forget it when it drains their batteries faster than ever. iPad users will get over the novelty soon after despite suffering less battery woes.
While I don't think I will watch a two-hour film with Airplay off an iOS device, Airplay will be huge with mobile devices because of it's dynamic and instantaneous nature. The first time a friend comes over to my house and is able to throw content from their iPhone or other iOS device on my TV in a matter of seconds, I guarantee they will be getting a $99 ATV of their own. At $100 it's an impulse buy for most, and everyone loves seeing their content, especially personal photos and videos on their TV. In a few years every TV will have AirPlay and no ATV required. I think this is Apples longer goal. I think they would much rather eliminate the need for a set top box or smarts at the TV and instead leverage the computing devices people already own. Makes more sense to me than media center PCs or Google TV. Remember, AirPlay will work with Windows and Macs too. I will watch a movie via AirPlay if its on my Mac. Or I'll just watch it via Netfix like i do now. How can Google TV beat me sharing my MacBook Pro screen on my TV via AirPlay? It can't. It's a solution for a problem that won't exist once AirPlay becomes more prevalent.
Finally, if Apple follows though on their promise to open up Airplay, look for every consumer point and shoot camera to start adding Airplay. Apple has enough momentum with the iOS to break down resistance due to their shear inertia.
Airplay also solves the "what do you use as an interface for the TV" by taking the TV out of the equation. The TV is now an external monitor instead of another computing device - it's brilliantly simple and far more elegant than trying to connect some new box to a TV and it sells more iOS devices
I can't wait for the next step in home media consumption to become a bit more concrete, but going off of the latest offerings, it's still a long ways off. It'll be tinkerers only until someone comes along and puts out a truly revolutionary product. No one has come even remotely close to doing so yet.
Our stagnation is a direct reflection of the dual stranglehold of the media companies and the cable companies. In Europe they have pure IP TV "cable systems". It will come here eventually, but it isn't going to happen any time soon
In the mean time, all they are managing to do is to encourage me to look at how much time I waste watching inane programing on TV and instead encouraging me to do other things instead
completely unnecessary if they just built DLNA into they handsets
Have you ever tried to use DNLA? There is a reason only geeks know what it is.
It's also why within a couple of years AirPlay will rule the roost and DNLA will be (thankfully) forgotten.
As of now, folks watch TV with an iPad on thier laps for these sorts of things.
Especially with cheap devices like the iPad, why would I want to clutter up my TV display with PIP for search?
I never got PIP when it started as a fad in the 80's, and I really don't get it today. I would much rather leave the content of what I am watching front and center, and do supplemental activities like search on a secondary device. Only google would have the hubris to emphasize search over the content you are watching
Can you surf through all that? Or do you need to scroll and scroll and scroll through lists of text?
Well, I have this thing called a computer where I process and analyze large amounts of information. Once I identify and either subscribe or bookmark what I am interested in, I consume it with my Apple TV.
Pretty simple and very effective. And if I want something spontaneous and ad-hoc, I can search for it. Companies other than Google can search too
This is just how Google does things.... They cobble a bunch of stuff together. Barly get it to work and release it as a product. After several revisions, it starts to be stable and intutive. Then they come out with an update that add a couple of cool new features, but breaks a bunch of stuff that that was working to start with....
I've never once seen that.
Which Google products specifically?
Google's entire foray into tech beyond search, has been "chaotic, complicated" in general. So no surprise here. Google aint Apple, folks.
Wait. Are you saying that Apple's entire foray into search has been chaotic and complicated? I'm pretty certain that they are currently working on it, and we'll see it get better in future releases.
You can count on it.
Just an example... I've tried to explain Google Voice to my parents several times, and they still don't know what it is.
People like us need Apple.